Comments on: How Reading Disturbing Novels can make you a Better Reader of the Bible

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:57:59 +0000

Oh and a professor here, David L. Jeffrey, has written and spoken quite a bit about how a knowledge of the Bible (from having read and reread it) is essential to understanding Western literature. He also argues that much of (or all) literary criticism comes directly from biblical hermeneutics.

It makes a lot of sense. Christians had been debating for centuries how to properly read and interpret before “literature” was even a field.

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:48:41 +0000

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll add it to my after-prelims-but-before-dissertation list.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:13:23 +0000

Dangit. I forgot the http on that link. Sorry.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:12:01 +0000

I have to say that, my own study of the Bible, especially with its emphasis on literary analysis and typology have had the effect of making a a better reader of lit and film. So the reverse of your point is true, too, Alan.

While I know that the emphasis of your PhD has little to with Scripture, I’d like to recommend a title to add to your never-shrinking reading list: Theology, Rhetoric, Manuduction, or Reading Scripture Together on the Path to God. Candler’s book has a few essays on the nature of biblical reading. It’s important to remember that, while you’re right that familiarity with reading contemporary fiction can facilitate biblical reading, the nature of biblical reading may be much different than the nature of reading contemporary fiction. His study of “grammars of participation” may dovetail nicely as a foil to your own exploration of the phenomenon of transcendence in American lit. Just a thought.

The good news is that the book isn’t overly heady like you found Hart and Marion to be. It’s also fairly short for its genre. If nothing else, it will certainly morph the way you think about the Bible, Augustine, and Aquinas. Give it a go if you feel up to it.

By: Jaycee

Jaycee — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:32:52 +0000

This article has just succeeded in explaining why my delving into vast resources of reading materials has increased my yearning for reading the word of God as well. Seriously, it’s as if the scales have been removed. The more I read, the more disciplined I am in reading my bible. It’s like I become more thirsty or something. If the world offers unsettling stories, then there’s power in His word to make it settling. Great article!

By: The Dane

The Dane — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:28:54 +0000

I’ll take any literary period that includes Franny and Zooey. Heck, I’ll even artificially extend that boundaries of whatever my favourite is just to include it.

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:50:15 +0000

Literary periods are pretty vague, but I think I’ve heard from the early 1900′s to WWII. But I’d like to through Salinger, O’Connor and a few others in there too. And then you have authors like McCarthy who often writes like a Modernist.

By: The Dane

The Dane — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:33:25 +0000

@Alan:
RE Kristen’s post – this is one of the reasons I asked what era the Modern American lit period spans. Does it end in the ’70s with the burgeoning rise of postmodernism? Does it continue to this day?

One thing I like about literature is that it helps desentimentalize the era from which the author writes. So many people (Christians especially) like to picture the ’40s and ’50s as some sort of Golden Age during which the nation feared God and chewing gum in school was among the worst delinquencies that one could find. Fortunately a quick survey of the literature of the time can quickly disabuse one of such notions and put one in a better place for interpreting today’s culture, free from illusions of some lost Hyperborean past.

By: David Dunham

David Dunham — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:16:18 +0000

Thanks, Alan.

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:49:36 +0000

Speaking of other resources, some of this post was influenced by Peter Leithart’s recent book, published by Baylor Press, called Deep Exegesis.

By: Carissa Smith

Carissa Smith — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:28:04 +0000

Thanks, Alan. Another good resource on this topic is Susan Gallagher and Roger Lundin’s Literature through the Eyes of Faith–especially Chapter 11, “Evaluating Literature: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

By: The Dane

The Dane — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:21:11 +0000

Awesome article. The one thing I’ll disagree with is the idea that that reading literature will not necessarily make you a better Bible reader. I think the opposite. I think that that reading literature will necessarily make you a better Bible reader.

It might not make someone a great Bible reader, but I’m pretty certain that the person who reads a lot will be a better reader and comprehender than that same person would be minus the reading.

When a person continually engages their mind in reading, they become accustomed to the practice of reading, the practice of interpreting, the practice of considering the words, grammar, and voice that an author is putting before them.

A non-reader may be fantastic at the task of engaging the biblical text, but I am certain that same person would be still better at the task if we add the consistent engagement of literature to their diet.
_______________________________

As an aside, I find it heartbreaking that people would express such incredulousness in regard to your enjoyment of Modern American lit. My soul weeps for our culture.

p.s. Insofar as your program is concerned, when does the Modern American Lit period end?

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:47:41 +0000

Well, to be fair, I have not read all Faulkner’s works, but I’m fairly sure at this point that he is not a prophet.

By: Dianna

Dianna — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:17:36 +0000

So, wait, wait, wait a minute here. You’re saying William Faulkner is NOT a prophet of the one true God and that ‘The Sound and the Fury’ is not a divinely inspired religious text?

Dang, my life is a lie now.

;)